Frederick w



(No Model.)

P. W. HEDGELAND.

ORGAN COUPLER.

No. 476,267. Patented June 7, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK IV. HEDGELAND, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WV. WV. KIMBALL COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ORGAN-COUPLER.

s'PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,267, dated June 7, 1892.

Application filed November 27, 1891. Serial No, 413,318. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. HEDGE- LAND, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Organ-Couplers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a construction of coupler for uniting the manual and the pedals of organs, and it is designed to permit the ready removal of the pedals from the instru ment whenever that is necessary without unfastening any of the parts of the coupler.

The nature of the improvement will be fully understood from the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a partial section of an organ, showing the parts to which my invention relates. Fig. 2 is a front view of the parts shown at Fig. 1, partly in section.

In the drawings, A represents one of the keys of the manual, and B one of the pedals connected by my improved coupler. a represents the bottom of the key-desk, and C is the roller-board, one of the rollers being shown at c and connected to the key A bya tracker D and an arm (Z. The rollers c I connect to the pedal by a divided tracker adapted to be united or disconnected at will by the organist. This tracker is shown at E F, the upper section E being united to the roller by an arm d and the lower section F being secured to the pedal, as shown. The ends of these tracker-sections lap by one another and are provided with hooks e and f, adapted to engage with each other when the tracker-sections are brought in contact.

For the purpose of bringing about the contact just mentioned, one of the tracker-sections is made to swing sufficiently to accomplish the result, and I prefer to give this movement to the upper section. A convenient mode of imparting such motion is as follows: Extending across the series of couplertrackers is a frame G, suspended by uprights g, located at its ends and hinged to stationary blocks H by leather or other appropriate hinges h. The tracker-sections pass through openings in this frame G, which is located near the lower ends of the sections, and when the organist desires to throw the couplers into action he moves the stop-rod I so as to rotate the wire "6, having cranks 7', such movement of the cranks resulting in a swinging movement of the frame G, which will carry the sections E from the position shown at Fig. 1 into one in which they engage with sections F. This engagement remains so long as the crank-wire presses the frame forward, and when the crank-wire is returned to its normal position (shown at Fig. 1) the springs K, which press upon the uprights g, force the frame back and bring about a disengagement of the hooked ends of the tracker-sections. The ends of the trackersections are preferably fashioned in some such manner as that illustratedthat is to say, with beveled sides m and nbecanse at the moment of the pulling of the coupler-stop, which results in the engagement of the sections of the tracker, as already described, some one or more of the pedals maybe sounding, so that the hooks of the tracker-sections belonging to such pedals will not at the moment engage. This, however, does not affect the engagement of the other sections and results in no ill effect by reason of the following features: The lower tracker-sections are supported and guided at their upper ends in a bar 0, supported from the pedal-frame, and each tracker passes through an elongated slot 0 in such bar. Each of the lower tracker-sections is also provided with a spring 1), pressing it toward the upper tracker-section. It will now be seen that should any of the lower tracker-sections be depressed at the moment the couplers are thrown into action such tracker-sections will have liberty to yield to the force exerted by the upper tracker-section when the upper tracker-sections are swung by the frame G, and that at this time the two beveled surfaces of the hooked ends will be in contact. As soon, however, as the pedal is released and rises to its normal position thelower trackersection moves upward with the pedal and its.

beveled side slides along the bevel of the upper section until the engaging parts of the hooks pass one another and are forced into engagement by the action of the spring 19, so that the particular pedal which was depressed comes into as complete union with the manual as those which were not depressed at the time of the throwing of the couplers into action.

By actuating the lower tracker-sections F 5 and other supports to the pedals it will be seen that there is no obstacle existing to the detaching of the pedals whenever necessary, and that when the pedals are to be repositioned it is only necessary to secure proper to action by the couplers to see that the upper and lower series of the tracker-registers are brought in accurate register with each other.

WVhile I have illustrated the complete coupler connection between the pedal and manual IS in case of only one pedal, it will be understood that all of the pedals are joined to the manual in like manner.

I claim 1. The combination, with the pedals and manuals of an organ, of a series of divided trackers adapted to engage with each other at will and means for throwing them into engagement, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the pedals and manuals of an organ, of a series of divided trackers adapted to engage with each other at will and means for disengaging them, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with the pedals and 0 manuals of an organ, of a series of divided trackers adapted to engage with each other at will, a swinging frame for bringing the tracker-sections into engagement, and a stop for actuating said swinging frame, substan- 5 tially as specified.

4. The combination, with the pedals and manuals of an organ, of a series of divided trackers adapted to engage with each other at will, a swinging frame for bringing the tracker-sections into engagement, a stop for actuating said swinging frame, and springs acting on said frame for releasing the engagement, substantially as specified.

5. The combination, with the divided tracker-sections, of the crank-wire and stop for swinging one section of the trackers into engagement with the other, substantially as specified.

6. In a pedal and manual coupler, the combination of divided tracker-sections E F, means for moving the sections E, and springs 17, acting upon sections f, substantially as specified.

7. The combination, in a pedal and manual coupler, of the divided tracker-sections E F, one of said tracker-sections being movable to bring about an engagement and the other being made yielding, substantially as specified.

S. The combination, in an organ, of a detachable series of pedals and couplers for coupling the same to the manual, said couplcrs being separable without unfastening, substantially as specified.

9. The combination, in an organ, of a detachable series of pedals and couplers for coupling the same to the manual, said couplers having trackers made in upper and lower parts, adapted to engage with each other, substantially as specified.

FREDERICK W. H El) GELAN D.

Witnesses:

H. M. MUNDAY, EMMA HOOK. 

